Working quietly

Well, tapping can be done pretty easily and quietly using a hand tapper. Enco sells these inexpensively and usually offers free shipping. See:

Also, a small lathe is not a loud machine. With a lathe, you can quickly do threading using a tailstock die holder, e.g.: And I don't think a 4x6 saw is very loud either, see: Grant

Look for an old small power hacksaw.

Basic idea is just a heavy duty hacksaw frame with a motor to drive it and a built in vise to hold the work.

Pretty quiet running. Not real fast.

A small metal cutting bandsaw may fit in your situation, or it may not.

I dunno if it's in your realm or not, but an automatic die head mounted in a base could be planted on the drill table and the drill used to drive the rods into it. That would thread the rods rapidly, and with no more noise than the drill already makes. Otherwise, a set of the appropriate dies and a benchvise. Slow but quiet.

Cheers Trevor Jones

This is a good idea. Power hacksaws are quiet and the heavy blade ensures that they cut nice and square. I much prefer them to bandsaws. Some of the big machines can actually cut pretty fast, but I suspect they would shake the floor enough to produce noise which travels through the structure of the building. Plus you'd never get them upstairs!

Best wishes,

Chris

Ditch the chop saw and get a 4x6 cutoff bandsaw. Lathes don't make that much noise either, especially the flat belt drive models.

I've had good luck tapping with a battery-power (slow) reversible electric drill. Even electric screwdrivers can handle tapping aluminum. For threading, there are attachments for an old brace-and-bit that are certainly quiet, and easier on the muscles than a simple die handle. Chopping stock that size can be done with a shear, of course; it'd be a bit hard on the tubing, though.

The average metalworking lathe is no noisier than a drill press, and often quieter. A hand hacksaw should be making quick work of the chopping for either of those shapes in aluminum, if not the blade is dull, or the wrong blade. Either a power hacksaw or a small bandsaw should work quietly from a motor noise point of view, but you may need to lube the cut to keep it from squealing like a pig under some circumstances. For the rod, a hand shear or bolt cutters might work, depending on what sort of cut end you need.

One possibility, especially if you have a high-ceiling-type loft space, is to build a vibration-isolating, noise-deadening room. You can find information on a variety of ways to do this for recording studios - the same ideas that keep inside noise in, keep outside noise out. But that assumes that the space is all-but-permanent (well, some methods are cheaper and more mobile than others). The best option may be moving. I set up woodworking stuff in a loft/mill building, and when I moved in it was "this is working space, if people choose to live here it's not your problem to keep quiet at 3 am, it's their problem for living here". I moved out when that shifted as the place became yuppy housing where no work got done, and the rent went up along with the neighbor hassles. How committed are you to staying in this space, despite its limitations as working space?

If you'll be staying put for a long time, you might be able to justify sheets of insulation, rubber, and a concrete slab to isolate the floor, followed by double-studded, insulated, double-sheetrock on both sides with resilient-mounting walls, similar ceiling, and have a place you can work as loud as you like without anyone noticing. If you can move out to space where working is an acceptable activity, that might be a lot cheaper.

One thing you may wish to explore is to isolate your machinery in boxes lined with thin sheet lead. Other things you can do to quell machinery noise is to use vibration dampeners. Mount your tool to a sheet of plywood and have the rubber feet between the plywood and the floor. This is not really optimal for rigidity on a large lathe but for the little stuff you work with it should have a nominal impact.

Some old carpet can be helpful in cutting noise and if you want a hard surface to make clean up easier lay sheets of masonite on top.

Carpet is also good on the walls. Not perfect but every bit helps.

Also it is always a good idea to foster a good relationship with your neighbors. Invite them in to your shop and show them what you are doing and let them know you don't want to cause them any grief.

The ubiquitous 4x6" bandsaw is pretty quiet, if you use the right blade for the material. You can do certain things that will make loud noises, but you really have to be doing something wrong, like a very coarse blade on thin stock.

Lathes and mills don't HAVE to be noisy. The Taig mill with the CR (CNC ready) motor is rather quiet for a high speed spindle. Some lathes, when well mounted and used with proper tooling can be very quiet. There is more of an opportunity for vibration when doing long, thing pieces or thinwall stock, but that vibration is really undesirable for surface finish anyway.

I don't know of too many other machines that are as loud as a chop saw or radial arm saw.

If the problem is transmission through the walls and floors, there are ways to isolate machine vibrations so they don't carry through the building's structure.

Jon

Thanks for all the tips guys... I actually have considered the isolation room idea. I've worked building studios, so I know how to do all that. I'm just waiting as a last resort for that... Using this space as a faux shop is actually down the list a ways in terms of priorities. So we'll be staying here for a while. But I think these are all good ideas and will probably try a lot of them.

Another idea I was given off list was to build my own saw out of a grinder motor. I also stumbled onto this:

Though I suspect it's probably about as noisy as most portable tool motors.

I also might attempt making a threading machine using a DC gear motor, which a gentleman described to me.

Dave

Watch out for that saw! "develops up to 1 hp" is a key indicator, should set off red lights in the minds of all buyers! The concept of "developed" horsepower is very inaccurate - it is figured by measuring the current drawn by the motor as increasing load is applied, right up until the load stalls the motor. They take the absolute peak current and multiply that times the wall voltage, divide by

746, and call that "horsepower". In no way shape or form could that motor sustain that amperage without burning up. I figure that motor is about 1/6hp.

Plus, the gearing is way way wrong for cutting aluminum. Its fastest speed is

256 fpm, about a factor of 3 too slow. And those tiny motors are quite noisy, you're right. I figure that motor would be about like the one on an electric chain saw.

GWE